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* From the BGA…
Wrongful convictions of men and women for violent crimes in Illinois have cost taxpayers $214 million and have imprisoned innocent people for 926 years, according to a seven-month investigation by the Better Government Association and the Center on Wrongful Convictions.
The joint investigation, which tracked exonerations from 1989 through 2010, also determined that while 85 people were wrongfully incarcerated, the actual perpetrators were on a collective crime spree that included 14 murders, 11 sexual assaults, 10 kidnappings and at least 59 other felonies. […]
The study also revealed that it is far cheaper to incarcerate the innocent than to compensate them afterward.
Over the period of time studied, which covers the past 35 years, the BGA/CWC investigation found that the cost of keeping the 85 in jail and prison for a total of 926 years came to $18.5 million.
926 years. Ugh.
* Counterpoint…
To be fair, they seem to have overlooked one financial consideration that would lower the overall cost of wrongful convictions to taxpayers. If police hadn’t impetuously arrested the wrong persons, in some cases they might eventually have arrested the right ones, and the same daily costs of incarceration would have had to be paid.
* More…
Government error and misconduct appeared in 81 out of the 85 cases, and purported eyewitnesses fingered the wrong person in 46, according to the investigations.
False confessions occurred in 33 cases, allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel appeared in 23, and incentivized witness testimony in 30 (an incentivized witness is someone who testifies with the expectation of some reward or benefit from law enforcement officials).
There was no breakdown offered of how many of those were errors and how many involved misconduct. But Andy Shaw of the BGA has no sympathy either way…
“These aren’t garbage men; these are highly trained police officers and prosecutors who passed bar exams and took an oath on the Bible to do their jobs,” said Andy Shaw, executive director of the association. “But they didn’t.”
* Proposed reforms…
The study recommended several reforms, including the videotaping of interrogations related to all violent crimes, not just murders; an overhaul of error-prone lineup procedures; a ban on court testimony by jailhouse informants; and increased transparency in the review process for complaints of police abuse. Mr. Shaw said the recommended reforms were standard practice in other states.
Your thoughts?
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 12:40 pm
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===Shaw said the recommended reforms were standard practice in other states.===
Did he name the states in which all of these practices are standard operating procedure? I’m not saying we shouldn’t consider these reforms, but I doubt there are too many states that ban testimony from imprisoned informants or that videotape all violent crime interrogations.
Illinois has a sorry history, and reforms are welcome. But let’s not take all of the tools away from police and prosecutors because mistakes are costly. This doesn’t fit neatly into a cost-benefit analysis, so the low-cost approach may not be the best approach where public safety is concerned.
The best thing we can do is to elect prosecutors who seek justice, not just convictions.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 12:47 pm
It sure makes sense to institute reasonable reforms, but it is doubtful that law enforcement, like any other human endeavor, will be perfect.
Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 12:59 pm
If eyewitnesses identify the wrong person in 46 [of 85?] cases, that’s pretty tough to lay at the foot of law enforcement or prosecutors. At many violent incidents, too many people who saw the event refuse to talk or cooperate with police at all.
Imagine if 46 of Rich’s news leads/informants/reliable sources gave him 180 degree wrong info in his last 85 important stories….
Comment by North of I-80 Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:12 pm
===that’s pretty tough to lay at the foot of law enforcement or prosecutors===
Maybe. Or maybe they were coaxed. It’s difficult to tell. There’s also the phenomenon of a few cops who try to “frame” what they consider to be a guilty person.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:18 pm
Did Andy Shaw just call out cops and prosecutors:
This could have a hilarious finish. Remember last fall when these two completely unrelated things happened: 1) JJJ told the feds to “bring it on” and a couple days later when 2) the picture of his DC girlfriend appeared on the front page of the papers? It was certainly one of the more hilarious, non-related, completely coincidental string of events in a while. I wonder what hilarous, non-related, completely coincidental string of events may befall Mr. Shaw.
Comment by The Captain Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:31 pm
Eighty-five wrongful convictions in twenty one years in a system that dealt with 90K+ violent crimes a year seems like a fantastically just justice system. Plus, there are numerous built in reviews to catch wrongful convictions and legal means to punish those involved with such miscarriages of justice. This seems like headline grabbing by the BGA to seize the news cycle to raise funds, not a serious attempt to achieve a better system. My thoughts: violent felons should serve 100% of their sentences and prosecutor/cops proven to be part of a wrongful conviction should be disbarred/fired and imprisoned.
Comment by walter sobchak Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 2:30 pm
Incentivized testimony takes place in most cases especially those involving public corruption and elected officials. John Harris and several others who testified in the Blago case were incentivized by their sentencing being postponed until after the trial. Rezko’s sentencing was postponed to see if his informing to the prosecution was substantial. Fawell was threatened with his paramour being imprisoned and not being able to take care of her children until he finally gave in and testified against Ryan. Not much difference between these guys and jail house snitches.
Comment by Rocketman Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 2:52 pm
Walter
Those are just the wrongful convictions we know about, often because of DNA evidence. What about cases where no DNA evidence exists?
North of I-80
Faulty eyewitnesses are often related to a faulty lineup procedure.
Comment by reform Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:15 pm
It’s disingenuous to argue that the same daily incarceration costs would have to be paid while ignoring the fact of all the extra money that has to be paid out in lawsuits, and all the man hours spent by lawyers, clerks, judges, etc. on adjudicating these matters. It’s a waste of millions of dollars defending people who shouldn’t be defended on the taxpayer dime (bad cops, bad prosecutors) and it’s a waste of time.
Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:24 pm
== prosecutor/cops proven to be part of a wrongful conviction should be disbarred/fired and imprisoned. ==
Well that should make it easy to fill those jobs. How about just providing that in case of a wrongful conviction the jury go to jail. That should take care of the problem of any convictions.
Comment by Bigtwich Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:30 pm
Boy, I would think that the dollar cost would be way down our list of concerns here. What about the human cost. What about the moral cost of this misfeasance on the part of government. Walter, I hope every jury that heard a prosecutor say, “Go with me on this, out of every 100 people you convict, 99 will actually probably be guilty” would turn a huge thumbs down to such a pitch. Better to err on the side of not guilty, I think.
And I quite agree that most public corruption cases rely very heavily (and improperly so) on incentivized testimony.
Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:35 pm
well, walter is right about one thing, the criminal justice system is huge and the number of cases where there is misconduct is a teeny percentage of the total numbers. how about the cost of the criminal justice system itself? isn’t that what is costing society? read today about crimes near one corner in Chicago and I’ll be the costs exceed that of the awards, which go to lawyers as well as the wrongfully convicted. in 20 some years the costs are how much less than one year’s costs for the Chicago police department?
Comment by amalia Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:43 pm
It’s a disturbing problem of the adversary form of justice in the United States, especially when it’s compounded with elected prosecutors and police forces controlled by elected officials.
Somewhere north of 90 percent of those charged are guilty. But justice is not served with a high batting average.
Long story short, I covered a dog of a murder case one time where I asked the state’s attorney, after acquittal, over drinks, whether he had really thought the defendant was guilty.
He said it wasn’t his problem, it was up to the jury. He just prevented the evidence.
Scary.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:57 pm
==He just prevented the evidence.==
Word, please tell me you mistyped and meant “presented”.
Comment by AnonX Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 4:06 pm
81 of the 85 exonerated cases involved government error or misconduct. Nothing in the BGA’s write-up defines what exactly constitutes “error” or “misconduct”. What exactly is the standard? I would assume that, if anybody is wrongfully convicted, that, in and of itself, would constitute an “error”.
Are they talking about an error or misdeed that directly and materially related to the wrongful conviction–or are they talking about any misstep at some point in the process that may or may not have led to the outcome, such as a misspelling or minor error in a police report that did not influence anybody?
Comment by Duck Duck Goose Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 4:40 pm
I’ll put this out there for what it’s worth. I’ve been a practicing criminal defense attorney for 19 years - mostly in federal court but a lot of state court too. I have represented one - ONE - person who truly did not do what he was accused of. That includes all the people who have been found not guilty with me as their lawyer. Therefore, I am highly skeptical when Andy Shaw spouts off: “These aren’t garbage men; these are highly trained police officers and prosecutors who passed bar exams and took an oath on the Bible to do their jobs,” said Andy Shaw, executive director of the association. “But they didn’t.”
Are there cases where the Police and the SAO try and pin something on someone who didn’t do it? I guess, I just haven’t seen any.
Comment by anonymous for today Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 4:53 pm
Ever since Andy Shaw came to the “Better Government Association” they’ve become much better at getting headlines than making better government. They should re-name themselves as the “Better Government Complainers and Please Give Us Money to Pay Our Salaries Association.”
Comment by Not a Newcomer Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 5:48 pm
So what do they want us to do instead? Not hold trials until we can create a foolproof system to prevent injustice?
Looks like my chances of being wrongfully convicted are a lot less than my chance of being wrongfully audited by the IRS. If I am not mistaken, the IRS considers you guilty until proved innocent, right? Talk about injustice!
Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 9:20 pm
for anonymous for today,
Check out Richardwanke.com. We are looking for an attorney to defend a couple of innocent people who the police are trying to pin a high-profile murder on. Contact us at freerichardwanke@gmail.com
Comment by richardwanke.com Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 11:41 pm
Errors are an unfortunate inevitability in such a large and complex system. For this reason, the most disconcerting statistic might be the false confessions in nearly 40% of cases.
Taping interrogations may help prevent coerced statements. However, this fails to mitigate another substantial issue in the criminal justice system that can lead to false confessions. Specifically, prosecutors are not required to disclose exculpatory evidence to criminal defendants before entering plea negotiations. (US v Ruiz 526 U.S. 622). This means that a prosecutor does not need to tell a defendant that he has information/evidence in the defendant’s favor before getting the defendant to confess/plea to a crime.
Although this may not sound like a problem in itself, going to trial is risky. As mentioned in the linked NYT article, being innocent does not mean you will win in court. When confronted with the risk of a life-sentence, a risk-averse defendant might plea out - even if he’s innocent. Additionally, although I think most prosecutors are out to see justice done, the set of incentives they face encourage a push for convictions and to see guilt in the face of innocents.
One solution to this problem might be a change to statutory procedures, requiring prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence at the grand jury stage and/or during plea negotiations. Although there would probably be drawbacks to this change in procedure, the benefits to justice would probably outweigh the costs.
Comment by GLM05 Tuesday, Jun 21, 11 @ 2:19 am